Keratoconus

 

One of our practice niches at Perspective Optometry is in the diagnosis and treatment of keratoconus. 1 in 1,000 people are likely to suffer from this degenerative eye disease. Teenagers are most at risk.

 

Keratoconus is a slowly occurring, progressive eye disease in which the normally round cornea (the clear outer part of the eye) thins and begins to bulge into a cone. It then bends the light as it enters the eye and results in blurred vision. While the exact cause of the disease remains unknown, many doctors suspect that it is due to a combination of genetics and environmental conditions.

 

Early detection is key in minimizing the more severe symptoms of the disease. And that is where we excell, having diagnosed numerous patients early, often durign routine eye exams. We have advanced diagnostic equipment, known as a corneal topographer:

Coneal topographer for the diagnosis of keratoconus

 

 

The corneal topographer images the surface of your eye, the cornea, and tells the doctor what shape it has and whether there are any abnormalities that could be early stage keratoconus. This is the same equipment that the laser eye surgeon uses to determine the shape of your cornea in preparation for laser eye surgery and it is also what we use to fit special ty contact lenses such as orthokeratology lenses. This is an example of a corneal topography image:

 

Corneal topography

 

 

In addition to vision loss and poor vision, keratoconus can limit your vision correction options, making laser eye surgery unsuitable or impacting your ability to wear contacvt lenses. Promising new treatments are available, including corean-collagen crosslinking.

 

 

 

Eye Exam Videos and Infographics:

The connection between the eyes and chronic diseases like

Children's Vision

Saving a Mom's Vision

Life-Saving Eye Exam